National Rent Continues Decrease for March 2017

Nationally, rent prices stayed pretty steady in February, falling a mere .03% over the course of the month. That brings the current national median rent to $1,003, a 1.3% decrease since the beginning of the year.

Some cities saw more major decreases. Philadelphia’s one-bedrooms rented for $1,112 per month, a 9.7% dropoff from last month’s figure of $1,232. Two cities with significantly lower rents, Rochester, NY, and Fort Wayne, IN, showed similar decreases of 9.2%.

This marks the second consecutive month that Philadelphia, Rochester, and Fort Wayne have experienced significant drops in rent. These cities, along with Nashville, TN (-7.9%); Cleveland, OH (-6.7%); Cincinnati, OH (-6.6%); Richmond, VA (-5.3%); all appeared on last month’s list of greatest decreases, as well.

Only El Paso, TX (-7.5%), and Riverside, CA (-5.9%), are new additions.

New Orleans, LA, saw its one-bedroom rent increase 9.1% to $1,055, the largest jump in the country. And although Glendale, AZ (7.4%), and Atlanta, GA (6.4%), both experienced notable gains for the second straight month, the majority of rental increases were more modest.

The list of cities with the highest rents didn’t change in the last month, and for the most part, rents stayed stable, with all changes — positive or negative — under $50. As usual, San Francisco owns the country’s most expensive rent, with one-bedrooms going for $3,465 per month. The City by the Bay is followed by New York City, NY ($2,754); San Jose, CA ($2,579); and Boston, MA ($2,410).

Each month, using over 1 million ABODO listings across the United States, we calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and track the month-over-month percent change. To avoid small sample sizes, we restrict the analysis for our reports to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds.